Iron Curtis - Way Back Home EP

Iron Curtis - Way Back Home EP
There's nothing new to be found in Iron Curtis' new EP for Mule Electronic. Whereas his remix for Coldfish and 12-inch for Mirau last year were otherworldly things that seemed to exist just a bit outside of anything that was happening in dance music, the Berlin-based producer seems to be slowly regressing to the mean. It's not a bad thing: There's great pleasure to be had in "Großreuth 1"'s old-school chord progression, "Save the Night"'s similarly bouncy bass-driven melody or "80 G"'s constantly upbuilding theme and clumpy climax.

Unlike previous work though, Way Back Home seems content to rest in the realm of purely functional. There are no breakdowns that last just a bit too long, or sounds that seem comically out of sync with the rest of the track. The rough edges have been sanded off, proper production techniques have been acquired and now we're merely left with three songs that are merely pretty darn good, instead of transcendent. Needless to say, consistency is a trait worth chasing. After all, a darn good EP is better than a mediocre one. But when consistency becomes the watchword, innovation starts to become that much further away.